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20 questions for Steelers

1. If the lockout isn't lifted before April 28 and the Steelers are unable to re-sign unrestricted free agent cornerback Ike Taylor, should they reach for a cornerback in the first round, even if the cornerbacks available at No. 31 don't have first-round ratings?

2. More important, will the lockout be lifted before the draft, which would give the Steelers a final chance to compete with other teams for Taylor's services? (Indianapolis Colts president Bill Polian said he's approaching the draft believing the lockout won't be lifted before April 28 and that teams won't be able to re-sign their unrestricted free agents before the draft.)

3. If the Steelers invest first-round money in a cornerback for the first time since 1997, will they also want to make Taylor among the highest-paid cornerbacks in the league?

4. How much money can the Steelers afford to invest at cornerback when they'll have to think about re-signing strong safety Troy Polamalu, inside linebacker Lawrence Timmons and receiver Mike Wallace after next season?

5. Did the disappointing play of Bryant McFadden at cornerback and the lack of depth behind McFadden render questions about Taylor's market value moot?

6. Will young and unproven cornerbacks Keenan Lewis and Crezdon Butler be given a fair opportunity to compete with McFadden?

7. Is McFadden's starting job in jeopardy?

8. Is William Gay worth re-signing if the Steelers play him where he belongs -- at nickel back -- and stop moving him around?

9. Will Polamalu ever be totally healthy again?

10. Will the Steelers continue to replace free safety Ryan Clark during crunch time in games the way they did in Super Bowl XLV?

11. If it comes down to choosing Willie Colon or Flozell Adams at right tackle, who would the Steelers keep?

12. How will the Steelers handle outside linebacker LaMarr Woodley's situation if a federal judge overturns the lockout and the upcoming season is played under 2010 rules?

13. Will the Steelers attempt to appease Woodley by offering him a long-term contract if he returns to being a restricted free agent and isn't eligible to receive $10 million as the team's franchise player next season?

14. Or will the Steelers tell Woodley, "Sorry, but business is business'' and offer him about $3 million for one season as a restricted free agent?

15. Does signing Woodley to a long-term deal become more imperative, considering fellow outside linebacker James Harrison will be 33 years old next season and coming off two back surgeries within a nine-day span last month?

16. Should the Steelers be concerned about Harrison's recovery, given that tackle Marvel Smith retired at age 30 following two back surgeries?

17. Speaking of veterans recovering from surgery, how many more productive years does receiver Hines Ward have left?

18. Should the Steelers consider taking Pitt receiver Jon Baldwin with their first-round pick if he is the best available athlete?

1. If the lockout isn't lifted before April 28 and the Steelers are unable to re-sign unrestricted free agent cornerback Ike Taylor, should they reach for a cornerback in the first round, even if the cornerbacks available at No. 31 don't have first-round ratings? - The Steelers will never reach for a player, so I will say no. However they may be more inclined to move up if they think their targeted player won't be available at 31.

2. More important, will the lockout be lifted before the draft, which would give the Steelers a final chance to compete with other teams for Taylor's services? (Indianapolis Colts president Bill Polian said he's approaching the draft believing the lockout won't be lifted before April 28 and that teams won't be able to re-sign their unrestricted free agents before the draft.) - It's a 50-50 chance right now, it all depends on the judge's decision. Currently though teams have to move forward with what they have to work with right now. When Free Agency is reinstated there will be a grace period to sign players though, that's almost a given.

3. If the Steelers invest first-round money in a cornerback for the first time since 1997, will they also want to make Taylor among the highest-paid cornerbacks in the league? Yes, it won't be one or the other. They know their roster right now has no starting CB's on it except Taylor. Letting him go and signing a first round CB is a step backwards or atleast sideways.

4. How much money can the Steelers afford to invest at cornerback when they'll have to think about re-signing strong safety Troy Polamalu, inside linebacker Lawrence Timmons and receiver Mike Wallace after next season? It all depends on how long the lockout goes and how much time they might have to make early offers to guys like Timmons and Wallace before training camp starts. They can always use the Franchise or transitional tag next year (assuming Woodley signs a long term deal which he will eventually).

5. Did the disappointing play of Bryant McFadden at cornerback and the lack of depth behind McFadden render questions about Taylor's market value? Taylor was already one of the best CB's available in 2011, the fact that the rest of the Steelers CB's weren't great just made his case even bigger for the Steelers to try and keep him.

6. Will young and unproven cornerbacks Keenan Lewis and Crezdon Butler be given a fair opportunity to compete with McFadden? Most definitely, I'm am honestly foreseeing an open competition at CB with the exception of Taylor who we know will get his job back.

7. Is McFadden's starting job in jeopardy? Definitely

8. Is William Gay worth re-signing if the Steelers play him where he belongs -- at nickel back -- and stop moving him around? Yes, Gay is not all that bad, he is a decent Nickel back and he blitzes very well.

9. Will Polamalu ever be totally healthy again? It's possible but given his injury woes recently I would say it's a good chance the rest of his career will be filled with some sort of issue with his knees or ankle. Troy played most of last season though and did well the majority of it.

10. Will the Steelers continue to replace free safety Ryan Clark during crunch time in games the way they did in Super Bowl XLV? Lebeau loves Ryan Clark, but he's also not dumb enough to leave in a player who gets beat in certain situations. Clark is a good Safety but Dick knows what his strengths and weaknesses are.

11. If it comes down to choosing Willie Colon or Flozell Adams at right tackle, who would the Steelers keep? They want both, but in the end they would probably pick Colon just because he's younger. Flozell will only play at the most, 1 more season. Personally I'd rather have Flozell, let Colon go, and draft a RT.

12. How will the Steelers handle outside linebacker LaMarr Woodley's situation if a federal judge overturns the lockout and the upcoming season is played under 2010 rules? Woodley has signed his franchise agreement. The Steelers will still try to get a long term deal done that is more cap friendly and frees up the tag for 2011. If anything about 2011 is overturned, their will be a grace period for teams to get the tags back on the players. The owners won't allow anything less than that and risk losing a star player.

13. Will the Steelers attempt to appease Woodley by offering him a long-term contract if he returns to being a restricted free agent and isn't eligible to receive $10 million as the team's franchise player next season? He has already signed his franchise tag, there’s no way he’s giving that money back or the promise of that money if you ask me. They will sign a long term deal with him before he ever gets a chance to hit the market though. Even given the lack of a CBA right now which puts the franchise players tags in a state of flux, when it is reinstated the Steelers will not let him go. Another thing to mention on the CBA, the owners will not let a deal go through that essentially eliminates the Franchise or Transition tag, and risk losing top players.

14. Or will the Steelers tell Woodley, "Sorry, but business is business'' and offer him about $3 million for one season as a restricted free agent? Nobody really knows at this point how it will play out because we've never had a situation like this in the modern football era. The strike was the last time we had a work stoppage and things are worlds different then, than they are now. Wood wants to stay in Pittsburgh, the Steelers want him. They've already committed the franchise money to him knowing full well they'll have to get him a long term deal at some point that is more cap friendly.

15. Does signing Woodley to a long-term deal become more imperative, considering fellow outside linebacker James Harrison will be 33 years old next season and coming off two back surgeries within a nine-day span last month? Why do people keep harping on Harrisons' surgery. It's not a chronic issue, he injured his back during the Jets regular season game and played through it all during the playoffs and super bowl. He will be fine and has atleast 4 more years left in him. Signing Wood is imperative because there's nobody behind him that can play at his level, period.

16. Should the Steelers be concerned about Harrison's recovery, given that tackle Marvel Smith retired at age 30 following two back surgeries? No, Harrison will be fine and is already on the road to full recovery according to his tweets and Facebook posts.

17. Speaking of veterans recovering from surgery, how many more productive years does receiver Hines Ward have left? 2 years left max I'm thinking. It depends on what you call "productive" given that fact that Brown, Sanders, and Wallace will be the feature guys in the future.

18. Should the Steelers consider taking Pitt receiver Jon Baldwin with their first-round pick if he is the best available athlete?

19. Do Baldwin's impressive physical attributes (6 feet 5, 230 pounds) remind you of former Steelers receiver Plaxico Burress? Sure, but we can do without Plax's attitude when he was here in the beginning of his career.

20. Do you think Roethlisberger, who got along so well with Burress on the field, would approve of Baldwin -- the quintessential big receiver -- for a wedding gift. Ben will/would never question the gift of receiving more targets to throw too.

1. If the lockout isn't lifted before April 28 and the Steelers are unable to re-sign unrestricted free agent cornerback Ike Taylor, should they reach for a cornerback in the first round, even if the cornerbacks available at No. 31 don't have first-round ratings?
If we don't have Ike next year then nothing else really matters.

2. More important, will the lockout be lifted before the draft, which would give the Steelers a final chance to compete with other teams for Taylor's services? (Indianapolis Colts president Bill Polian said he's approaching the draft believing the lockout won't be lifted before April 28 and that teams won't be able to re-sign their unrestricted free agents before the draft.) I don't think there is a chance the lockout is lifted b4 the draft. I think the NFL would be crazy to just say everyone who is unsigned is now a free agent. They will have to give teams at least a couple of weeks to sign their FA players.

3. If the Steelers invest first-round money in a cornerback for the first time since 1997, will they also want to make Taylor among the highest-paid cornerbacks in the league? They better

4. How much money can the Steelers afford to invest at cornerback when they'll have to think about re-signing strong safety Troy Polamalu, inside linebacker Lawrence Timmons and receiver Mike Wallace after next season? Once again it doesn't matter what else we have to do if we cannot even cover the other teams receiver.

5. Did the disappointing play of Bryant McFadden at cornerback and the lack of depth behind McFadden render questions about Taylor's market value moot? yes

6. Will young and unproven cornerbacks Keenan Lewis and Crezdon Butler be given a fair opportunity to compete with McFadden? Butler is going to be a star in a few years, lets get him in there now, McFadden showed me very little last year.

7. Is McFadden's starting job in jeopardy? Yes

8. Is William Gay worth re-signing if the Steelers play him where he belongs -- at nickel back -- and stop moving him around? No, he is terrible. I know he is good in nickel and blitzes really well, but the job of a CB is to guard a receiver and he cannot do that. It is essentially saying should we keep a QB that cant throw worth a darn but sure can read defenses.

9. Will Polamalu ever be totally healthy again? I really hope so, but at this point I doubt it.

10. Will the Steelers continue to replace free safety Ryan Clark during crunch time in games the way they did in Super Bowl XLV? I dunno, the problem is who do they replace him with? Mundy?

11. If it comes down to choosing Willie Colon or Flozell Adams at right tackle, who would the Steelers keep? Colon...assuming he is fully recovered. Flo signed a 2 yr deal and I think he will be with us in 2011...if we see the NFL in '11

12. How will the Steelers handle outside linebacker LaMarr Woodley's situation if a federal judge overturns the lockout and the upcoming season is played under 2010 rules?
I don't know enough about it to comment

13. Will the Steelers attempt to appease Woodley by offering him a long-term contract if he returns to being a restricted free agent and isn't eligible to receive $10 million as the team's franchise player next season? I dunno

14. Or will the Steelers tell Woodley, "Sorry, but business is business'' and offer him about $3 million for one season as a restricted free agent? I doubt they would screw him like that

15. Does signing Woodley to a long-term deal become more imperative, considering fellow outside linebacker James Harrison will be 33 years old next season and coming off two back surgeries within a nine-day span last month? Nope, Harrison will be like Farrior...old and still kicking *** when he is over 35

16. Should the Steelers be concerned about Harrison's recovery, given that tackle Marvel Smith retired at age 30 following two back surgeries? Nope, Marvel was no James Harrison

17. Speaking of veterans recovering from surgery, how many more productive years does receiver Hines Ward have left? I think Hines has embraced his role as a clutch short to mid range WR. He caught quite a few clutch passes last year and really looked good doing it. But with the emergence of Sanders Brown and Wallace who knows how many looks #7 will give him with the tendancy of Ben to look deep first.

18. Should the Steelers consider taking Pitt receiver Jon Baldwin with their first-round pick if he is the best available athlete? No, we need another WR like we need another QB

19. Do Baldwin's impressive physical attributes (6 feet 5, 230 pounds) remind you of former Steelers receiver Plaxico Burress? I could care less about stature, I think Limas is a big guy.

20. Do you think Roethlisberger, who got along so well with Burress on the field, would approve of Baldwin -- the quintessential big receiver -- for a wedding gift..... Ben is just glad that his teammates accepted him back, he loves throwing to Wallace so much that, short of bringing in Andre Johnson, Ben will be happy regardless.

The Steelers need not worry about Harrison's production, as Farrior Fan said he's a lot like Potsie, older than most linebackers but still as good or better than everyone else. He'll be just fine. I'd be more worried about what they are going to do when Potsie does hang it up. Is Sylvester the answer? Hopefully so...

I'm liking you more and more Blitzburg...agreeing with me is always a smart move. lol

Sylvester is going to be a star in the NFL. Just watch any college highlight film of him, the guy has a nose for the ball like the greatest in history, thats right I said it. He could be the next #58 or #59.

I'm just really hoping that Adams comes back for another year, without him we'd have royally screwed at Right Tackle last year. Hopefully he's got another year left in him to come back and give it another shot. Even though Colon was decent in 2009, I just don't think he's the long term answer and now having been off for an entire year the Steelers really need to look at drafting a RT for the future. I like keeping Jonathan Scott around as the main backup to Starks at this point. I think he did a solid job once he got acclimated to the position.

Hood was a bit of a reach but I don't think he was an epic reach. Normally if the Steelers want someone they will trade up if they know other teams are looking at their prospect. Or they will trade down, knowing that the guy they want will be available even if only a few picks lower.

I think the character issues thing is somewhat overrated. The Steelers won't take someone with a lot of baggage but they would pull the trigger on a guy who maybe had one incident but has since kept their act together.